Bhubaneswar, Sept. 13: The much-hyped Rupali Square workshop - painting the intersection to educate commuters on lane driving and pedestrian-friendly walkways - has missed its kick-off date by almost a month and a half.

The Bhubaneswar Development Authority had initiated the plan to improve road safety with a lighter, quicker and cheaper (LQC) approach for two days. Experts, citizens, volunteers and artists were supposed to take part in creating a model traffic intersection at Rupali Square. The work was to start on August 3 and the next day the project was supposed to have kicked off.

The LQC approach is a model that includes painting of the intersections with varied colours to draw the commuters' attention towards lane driving. It also uses some cones and barricade structures, so that the safety rules could be followed at the model junction.

But, according to the authorities, rain played spoilsport in implementing the project. 'The Rupali Square project was taken up on a pilot basis to teach commuters about various aspect of road safety, but it couldn't materialise because of the rain,' said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

At present, one section of the busy junction at Saheed Nagar has been painted, while the other three are awaiting the design. Moreover, since the administration left the work midway, the already painted section was also on the verge of fading because of rain and lack of maintenance.

'We held a theoretical workshop before coming up with the plan for Rupali Square. We had prepared all the designs, and everything was set to get into place. The designers were also put on the job, but we had to stall the plan because of heavy rain that continued afterwards. We will look for a suitable time and resume it shortly,' said an official.

To teach lane driving was one of the important agendas of the administration here since the city has wide arterial roads with proper marking of lanes. But due to lack of awareness and installation of proper signage, not many know about the basics of lane driving - which ultimately contributes to accidents in the city.

'I see lines and markings on the roads mainly on Sachivalaya Marg and Janpath, but don't know anything about it. If it is marked for lane driving, it should be displayed properly. Everyone, be it a four-wheeler, two-wheeler or three-wheeler, use the roads whimsically, leading to congestion and accidents,' said Nayapalli resident Anima Hota.

Traffic personnel deployed at Rupali Square said their job was to monitor and regulate traffic. 'Violation is at its peak. We have not enough manpower to go behind each and every violator. We do direct them for safe driving, but if they don't comply, they are the ones who will invite risks for themselves,' said a traffic man requesting anonymity.